Walgreen to buy remaining stake in Alliance Boots

MichaelCalia

Walgreen Co. said Wednesday that it would buy the remaining 55% of Alliance Boots GmbH that it doesn’t already own, while the drugstore chain confirmed it would keep its headquarters in the U.S.

Walgreen
US:WAG
said it decided to exercise its option to buy the rest of Alliance Boots earlier than the original option period of between February and August 2015. The company, which expects the deal to close in the first quarter next year, struck a deal to buy 45% of Alliance Boots in 2012 for about $6.7 billion.

The Walgreens Boots Alliance holding company will be based in the Chicago area, while Walgreens operations will remain in Deerfield, Ill. The operations of Boots will be remain in Nottingham, U.K.

A group of investors had pressured Walgreen to consider pursuing a so-called tax inversion overseas by relocating its headquarters to tax-friendly Switzerland, where Alliance Boots is based.

The Wall Street Journal and other outlets had reported Tuesday that Walgreen would seek to buy the remainder of Alliance Boots while keeping its headquarters in the U.S.

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